The Full Story
by 4love59
Summary: A fill in to the Harry Potter books that is HermioneRemus and for the most part completely compatable with all seven books. Meant to be read along with other timeturner fics.
1. Chapter 1

**The Full Story**

Here is my Hermione/Remus version of Harry Potter that is COMPLETELY compatable with all 7 of the Harry Potter books and will such have spoilers for all of them (you have been warned.) I plan to also have an alternate ending to this story once this story line is finished. The alternate ending will correlate with all of the books but not the epilogue which this version will match with. Happy Reading!

However! This is meant to be a "time-turner fic" and as such correlate with the tons of others that have been written. When I sat down to write this one, I realized that all the ideas have been used and I did not want to risk infringing on someone else's work. Therefore I have written a beginning portion of the story to prompt Hermione's desent in time. I will also write her leaving that time period, returning to her own, and then basically begin my story from there. I suggest whoever reads this story having also red other "time-turner fics." Any feedback would be appreciated.

N.B.: I am only gonna say this once because it is painfully obvious, I own absolutely no part of the Harry Potter franchise. Thank you.

Hermione sat in her room in Grimmald Place. It was the summer after she finally finished her 7th year at Hogwarts. After the final battle that took place there and practically destroyed the castle, but also freeing the world of the evil man that became Lord Voldemort, they, the order of the phoenix and their supporters that were still left after the battle, rebuilt the castle thereby allowing the school to continue with the education of young witches and wizards. Hermione, Ron, and Harry were all allowed by the new acting headmistress, Professor Minerva McGonagall, to finish their 7th year with Ginny and Luna's class. They had of course had to help rebuild the castle continually during the year as it had been practically destroyed previously but had finished it about the time of the graduation. After a brief time staying with her parents after her graduation, Hermione came to Grimmald Place were Ron and the newly engaged couple Harry and Ginny were living. However, Harry and Ginny were not the only couple around. Although they were not engaged, Hermione and Ron had become quite the item.

On this seemingly normal afternoon at Harry's house, Hermione sat on the floor of her room cleaning her belongings in an attempt to help organize them. While she was doing this she could not help but come across old items that would remind her comrades she had lost in that great battle. She found a book on warewolves, she had bought it in her fifth year when she realized how good of a friend Remus Lupin had become of her, Harry, and Ron's and also how little she knew about warewolves, or at least she thought so. She learned by memory how to make the wolfsbane potion, just in case knowing he would be around them for a while. Until now that was. He was gone, and was she and Ginny's good friend Tonks. How fabulously depressing she thought.

She also thought of Dumbledore, her teacher and Harry's helper, the reason they were all alive really when she thought about it. Snape, Ron's brother, Sirius, Mad-eye, and even Harry's parents all flew into her head. They had suffered such great losses in this war, she more happy the war was over than she had been about anything ever before. With all these thoughts of lost comrades she stumbled upon the time-turner she still possessed that she had used in her third year to get to classes. She put it around her neck looking on it, thinking back to those innocent days in her third year before she really had gotten too wrapped up in the war, even though she had fought the evil side. However, at that moment the chain of her time-turner broke, sending the small clock looking object cascading to the floor. She scrambled to pick it up to examine the damage, but the minute she touched it, she immediately felt the ground moving beneath her and the room around her disappearing. She closed to her eyes to avoid throwing-up her lunch. When she opened her eyes, the time-turner was no where in sight, neither was anything else of hers or even her room.

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When Hermione opened her eyes she saw she was lying with her stomach pressed upon a large stone floor. It was dark around her so she pulled out the wand she kept in her pocket always. She thought this was mostly out of habit as the danger was now gone, but when she tried to move about, even Grimmald Place, she found she felt lost and vulnerable without that powerful piece of wood. Thank gosh she thought to herself for this funny habit of hers at this moment of time. When she lifted her wand out of her pocket and said "Lumos" she saw what looked like a deserted corridor, a deserted Hogwart's corridor that was. Confused and completely taken aback at the sight before her, she suddenly heard an oddly familiar vioce behind her.

"Oy, you there, what are you doing wandering the castle at night?" the vioce asked in a curious un-angry tone.

When she turned round she could not believe her eyes. She was facing Remus Lupin, a Remus Lupin about her own age, he was different looking, but it was unmistakably him. "Profesor!" she stammered out simply out of habit.

"Excuse me miss, while I am a prefect, I think you may be slightly comfused. What is your name and house by the way, I do not recognize you."

Hermione thought to herself, 'oh my ahh ok, I must have gone back in time when the time tuner droped, about 21 years by the looks of it. Ok, stay calm, who do I say I am, I can't tell the truth, except maybe to Dumbledore! Yes!' she thought. 'Dumbledore would still be alive, thank goodness,' how she had missed his comfort and aid. She said the only rational thing she could think of, "Oh sorry, my name is Hermione Gr...ah Hermione, yea that is my name," she didnt think she should give too much information about herself. "I am a transfer student, from ah Beabattons, and I need to speak to Dumbledore immediately."

"Is everything alright Ms...ah Hermione?"

"Yes," she responded quickly, "everything is fine, but I do really need to speak with him."

"Very well, follow me I will take you to his office." He had offered to take her not only cause of his kind nature, he was known as the most approachable of the marauders, but also out of sheer curiosity. This girl, Hermione had appeared in the middle of the night inside the school. Strange indeed he thought.


	2. Chapter 2: The Past

Chapter 2: The Past

After she had met up with Remus when appearing in the past she went to Dumbledore's office and explained to him her situation. He told her that this trip into the past of hers was not something he had heard about before but that he would do his best to find a way home for her. In her urgency to get home she started to tell Dumbledore about the death eaters still afoot after the fall of Voldemort but he stopped her immediately reminding her that it was imperative that she not divulge events from the future so as to change the future. He told her that while she was there in the past she should settle in as a student in her seventh year in her old house. He told her that everything she would need would be waiting in a trunk for her in the dormitory she would share with the other 7th year Gryffindor girls. Before she departed from his office he also inquired as to who he told Remus she was. Hermione assured the elder wizard that she said she was a transfer student and would stick to that story. Dumbledore agreed this best since at that time; times were growing dark with Voldemort on the rise so if he or anyone on the dark side got wind of her true identity she would be in incredible danger.

It had been three months since that conversation with Dumbledore. In that time much had happened for her. In the first month she was still very eager to return home, missing Harry, Ron, and Ginny all very much but nevertheless enjoying seeing Remus and Sirius alive again, as well as Harry's parents. In that time Hermione had also, against her own will, begun to feel a strong attraction to the man who would become her friend and professor. She knew he felt the same and had actually awkwardly kissed her only but she still fervently tried to deny her feelings. She thought it so wrong. Firstly, she was dating Ron and Remus had been married to Tonks, Hermione's friend. She did not want to betray any of them. Also, there was how much older he really was than her, but what bothered her most was knowing that when, or really if, she went back Remus would not be there. Feeling this attraction and the newfound close friendship between the two of them would be hard enough to have to suffer when she returned to a world where he was dead. She could not even imagine having to leave him and never see him again, no matter at what age, if they were to get closer to each other, or if she were to fall in love with him.

Nevertheless, that is exactly what happened; they had fallen deeply in love with each other over the next two months. The night when she would have been in the past for exactly one month she was called to Dumbledore's office and told that he had not yet been able to find a way for her to return home. He assured her he would keep searching for a way but that she should also prepare herself for the reality that she might be stuck there. She had returned to her dorm and cried herself to sleep that night at the thought of never being able to see Harry, Ron, Ginny, or her parents again. She woke up in the middle of the night unable to sleep anymore and went down to the common room where she found Remus. She knew he didn't sleep much or well as a werewolf, but hadn't expected him to be there that night. He felt awkward at first due to their last encounter, the kiss, but when he saw her teary face he immediately went to her and pulled her close to him in an effort to comfort her. When she eventually looked up into his face she knew she could not nor did she want to resist her feelings anymore. She knew how wrong it was and what a bad idea it was, but kissed him anyways. He had initially been taken off guard, but at her increasing intensity he responded to her.

Ever since then she had been living in the past happily with him, the other marauders, as well as Lily, Harry's mother and her roommate who she had grown very close to especially since they were both dating marauders. In the past two months she grew to love him, and not with a slight attraction, but deeply and he as well for her. They were perfect for each other, a Romeo and Juliet type couple she knew from her muggle background, they understood each other more than anyone else ever did and both faced the same outsider placement, her with muggle parents and him as a werewolf. She had even begun to make the wolfsbane potion for him, which she knew by heart and thought might come in handy. She had had to wait until he finally admitted his "furry problem" to her since she had not told him of her true identity. After he had she told him she had heard of an obscure, secret potion that could help him. He was skeptical but knew he could trust her so he took the potion and was able to control his werewolf self. This made him love her more if that were possible but did not understand why he shouldn't tell people about the potion.

This bliss with him and the others lasted for two months… until one morning.


	3. Chapter 3: Return to the Present

Hermione awoke that morning three months after traveling to the past sure that today would just be another day like the ones before. She had gotten used to the past, being there with the marauders and Lily, but especially Remus. She loved him so much, more than she would ever be able to love Ron she knew. At this point, when she thought about it, she was not even sure she wanted to return to the future even if it were possibility.

Hermione got herself out of bed, showered and dressed all without a second thought. When she went down the staircase to the common room, by herself as Lily had already left for breakfast, she saw Remus, her Remus, waiting for her at the foot of it. Together they walked hand in hand to the Great Hall for breakfast and greeted their friends. While pouring herself some juice, Hermione looked up at the familiar sounds of the owls delivering the mail. She didn't give the post a second thought, and was therefore shocked when one of the owls dropped a letter in front of her, almost tipping over her glass of pumpkin juice. She opened it quickly, wondering who could possibly be writing to her. She paused when she glanced at the letter and recognized Dumbledore's handwriting. She then read the letter:

_Dear Ms. Granger,_

_I have finally found a way for you to return home. I didn't think it possible but the answer came to me suddenly as surprisingly simple answers generally do. Kindly come to my office tonight at 8pm alone as it is still best to keep your adventure here a secret. _

_Regards,_

_Headmaster A. Dumbledore_

Remus noticed quickly that something seemed to be wrong with his love. "Hermione love, what's wrong?"

Hermione couldn't even respond and simply sat there overwhelmed. After a minute of sitting there simply in shock she got up and ran from the Great Hall. She had no intension of going to her classes today, huge for Hermione Granger she thought ironically. But then again she really wasn't being herself. She was not the Hermione Granger who would fight Lord Voldemort at the side of Harry Potter in the years to come; she was simply Hermione the transfer student from France who was completely in love with Remus Lupin. The truth was, she thought to herself ashamed as she was running as fast as her legs could take her towards Gryffindor Tower, that she did not want to go back, she wanted to stay here with Remus. She knew she had to go back, but for what reason, the war was over, sure she was helping round up Death Eaters but they could do that without her right? True she missed Harry, Ron, and Ginny, all in sibling-like ways, but she simply could not imagine returning to a time when she would not be able to be with Remus. Not even that, but he was dead, she would not even be able to see his face ever again.

At that thought, her legs collapsed beneath her as she arrived outside the portrait hole. She could not even stand, only curl up on the ground in the fetal position in sheer agony.

"Hermione, Hermione! Where are you?" she heard her name called in a distance from a concerned voice she knew to be Remus's. When he arrived to the scene of Hermione there on the ground she heard him say "Oh God" and run to her collapsed form.

He arrived at her side and said in a very worried tone, "Hermione! Hermione, are you alright? What is going on, do you need to go to the hospital wing?"

At the sheer simplicity of his question she turned her large brown eyes up to him sadly as if trying to convey to him that if only it were that easy. If only she simply had a stomach pain that was driving her to tears, but no, something not even in the realm of comparability with physical pain, no something far worse. At her look he simply stared back at her before grasping her shoulder lightly and saying "my dear please tell me what is wrong, what sweetheart you are terrifying me."

All she could do at that was give a small sad laugh and grab at him until he was pulled on-top of her into a huge hug.

Remus could tell she was overwhelmed but seeing no immediate physical danger picked Hermione up off of the ground, all the time her arms remaining around his neck, and carried her through the portrait hole and up the stairs to his room, as he knew he would not be able to climb the ones to hers. Sirius had tried many times to get up the staircase to the girls dormitories but never was successful despite his constant efforts. He laid her on the bed and pulled a nearby chair up to the bed and sat down moving her hands from around his neck to his own hands.

"Hermione, sweetheart, what is going on, what has happened to you?" At the look of sheer misery on her face he felt himself in great pain; it killed him to see her like this.

She could not speak, instead she simply handed Remus the note that Dumbledore had sent her during breakfast. She saw him read the note and his face drop. "Hermione, sweetheart," he called her that a lot and she loved the nickname even more every time he said it, "this is bad, I mean I more than anyone don't want you to leave and go back to France, but hey the year will be over soon and we can be together again, I can come there or you can come here, I don't care I just want to be with you. And with our being able to apparate, we will be able to travel very easily to be with each other and our friends and family. Until then we will correspond by owl. See sweetheart, it sucks love, but it is not worth this."

Hermione's heart dropped at these words. How could she tell him that she would never see him again in this way, that she would see him in the future, but then it will be too late as he would be married and have a child with his wife, Hermione's friend? Her mind blocked out the fact that she would not even see him in the future, that he would be dead. That would have overwhelmed her too far so her mind protected her from that fact in order to keep her sane.

"Remus, I am afraid it is not that simple, I will," Hermione choked on her sentence but knew she must continue, nevertheless she could not look him in the face, "I will…not see you again." "Not for a while," she muttered quietly to herself.

"Sweetheart there is no reason for that. Like I said, it will be difficult, but we can get through this, I love you too much to lose you." That last part of this frantic sentence of his tipped her over, she practically screamed her response, not because she was mad at him, but she was mad at the situation, mad at Dumbledore for making her leave, but at the same time mad at herself for not wanting to leave, not wanting to go back to her friends and family.

"Remus, you don't understand!" "I don't live here!"

"Hermione, calm down you are not making any sense."

"No, you don't understand, I don't live in this time. I live almost 20 years in the future. I came back here when I accidently dropped my time turner." At this she clapped her hands over her mouth. But the damage was done, he stood there in awe of her, know it couldn't be true, but at the same time knowing she wouldn't lie to him, not about this, not about their future or now, the lack of it. "I wasn't supposed to tell you about any of this, Dumbledore forbade me, and if I tell you too much more it could risk changing my life and your future."

"But, Hermione…I, I mean come on this is crazy." At the sad yet desperate look on her face he knew this now to be true. With his voice low and very distraught he said, "Will I see you again, in the future I mean?"

"I can't tell you much, but yes you will see me again, we are friends in the future, remember that, and know that I will always love you even if we can never be in love again." She pictured him in the future with Tonks and it almost broke her heart, but she would not and could not ask him to wait for her, but unfortunately that was his next topic."

"Hermione, I don't care about any of this, you are my life, my love, I'll wait for you!"

"If only it were that easy…" At that she laid down heartlessly on his bed. He came next to her, sitting on the bed, Hermione I will wait, I promise. With that faint glimmer of hope in her eyes that the future would be better, her mind still locking her away from the very real fact that he would be dead when she returned to her time, she pulled him into a deep kiss and he settled on top of her. Hermione frantically began to kiss and pull him to her, desperately trying to make all this untrue, not willing to lose Remus, her Remus. When Hermione began to pull off her skirt, her shirt already lying on the floor along with his where they had normally been ending up for the last month of the couple's snogging, Remus pulled away from and looked down at Hermione.

"Sweetheart, we don't have to do this." He told her gently knowing where their current activities were leading. "I can wait, we have time"

"No, Remus, we don't!"

"Hermione, sweetheart," the phrase that was music to her ears like none other, "we have the future my dearest, everything will be fine, your whole life will be fine."

Hermione stopped and knew she had to be strong. This wasn't her. She was part of the golden trio, however long ago or long ahead that was, she was the strong willed and clever girl that was always fighting at Harry Potter's side."

Remus pulled her close to him and together they fell asleep for forever it seemed. When Remus awoke he found a note on the pillow beside him. All it said was _"Remember I love you."_

He would not see her again until that day in her third year on the Hogwart's express, where he recognized her immediately. Dumbledore never spoke of it with him, knowing Hermione had probably told him the truth.

* * *

Hermione awoke, looked at Remus, wrote a simple note to him and left with a kiss on his check and tears on hers. There was nothing left to say. She went to Dumbledore's office and in the privacy he granted her, returned to her own time.

After a whirl of flashes she found herself sitting on a hard floor. She opened her eyes and upon looking around saw her room in Grimmald place. She was still clutching the time turner. She immediately dropped it out of shock. However, then a thought came to her. She could return, return to her Remus. At the thought of him, she suddenly felt intense pain, the likes of which she had never felt before, not even under the cruciatis curse. He was dead, Remus was dead. At that thought she began to pick up her time turner to return back to him when her door burst open. Standing at the threshold were Harry and Ron.

"Hermione! We heard a crash, are you alright," said Ron, running and kneeling at her side.

Hermione could not speak; she was too overwhelmed with her emotions. For one of the first times in her life, Hermione was speechless.

"Hermione!" Ron repeated.

"I'm…I'm ok," Hermione stuttered. At seeing them here, seeing Harry and Ron, see knew she could not go back.

"Ron, let's take her downstairs," Hermione heard Harry say from overhead.

The two boys lead Hermione downstairs and sat her on the couch. A very familiar voice called from the kitchen, "Guy's what's going on, is everything alright?" Hermione looked up immediately from the depths of her sorrow, she knew that voice…could it be? When her eyes reached the doorway to the kitchen she saw him standing there looking at her, Remus, her Remus, very much alive.


	4. Chapter 4: We can't

Hermione couldn't believe her eyes. Standing right in front of her and alive as he had been the last few months with her in the past, was Remus. She slowly stood up from her place on the couch, still unable to speak. She slowly walked right up to him standing there in the doorway and simply gazed up at him. Remus was confused at what was going on before it finally came to him, it was her, not the Hermione of these past years, but his Hermione. He looked at her with love and understanding. Hermione was so overwhelmed at this point that she simply passed out unconscious.

When Hermione awoke she was lying on the sofa with Remus sitting on the coffee table next to her. When she slowly opened her eyes she didn't know where she was. She looked around and at seeing him as an adult, her memories of the past hour came back to her. She sat up and stared straight at him.

"You're…you're alive," she studdered.

"Yes, Hermione a very astute observation my dear."

"But no…no you don't understand, how, you…you and Tonks died."

"Hermione, my dear," upon hearing his term of endearment for her she relaxed slightly, "I am not nor have I ever been dead. And neither is Tonks, she is probably at the ministry as we speak I really don't know."

"Remus how could you not know what she is doing?" Hermione asked at his surprisingly small amount of attention to his wife's whereabouts.

"Why would I, I mean she is my friend and all but it is not like I am tracking her," he laughed in response.

"Your friend, so…so you are not…oh, um ok," Hermione responded utterly shocked at what she was hearing, but also there was a feeling in her chest. Her heart was lifting at the knowledge that he was not married to Tonks, that he was…maybe…still hers?

"Hermione you are acting very strangely, are you alright, little tired from a trip perhaps?" He winked at her at this last statement, reached for her hand, and grasped it gently.

"Yes, in fact I have come a long way as I imagine you know."

"I do indeed, and let me tell you, I have missed you so much," he said giving her hand a squeeze.

"So…I mean what now?" she said, now eager to ask the question that had been on her mind ever since she found out he was not married to the auror.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you still love me?" she blurted out before she could contain herself.

"Oh Hermione, it is not that simple. I have been waiting for this day for longer than I can tell you and…Hermione we can't."

"What do you mean we can't?"

"We can't be together. I still love you and I have since you left, but ever since I saw you on the train that day in your third year my hopes of being with you again as we once were vanished. It is not right sweetheart, as much as I wish it were the contrary, I am just too old for you."

"Remus," Hermione responded stunned, "you don't mean that, you can't mean that, it is simply not true." She got up and started pacing. "I mean you say that, but you call me sweetheart and…" Hermione suddenly stopped realizing how childish she would seem right now. At that thought she stopped, collected herself, and sat back on the couch facing squarely towards Remus. "Remus, I don't care how old you are, you know that, all I care about is you, I love you, no matter your age."

Remus looked down at his hands and shook his head, "I'm sorry, it just can't be." He got up and walked towards the stairs, walking up them and away from Hermione, the girl he has always and still did love. When he got to his room, he locked the door and simply collapsed on the ground. "Remus," he said to himself, "you know this is what is right for her." He had thought about when she would come back to him after her trip to the past ever since she left, but he knew they couldn't be together. There was too much time between them. It killed him inside though, this revelation, because he wanted nothing more than to be with her. She was the love of his whole life, he knew that, and the only one who truly knew him at this point, for all his friends were gone, although he always thought that she knew him better than the other marauders did.

At Remus's disappearance upstairs Hermione simply laid down on the couch she had been sitting on, unable to do anything else but shut her eyes and weep quietly. Her heart was breaking. She thought quickly to her time turner back up in her room and ran as quickly up there as her legs would take her. When she opened the door she saw the time turner lying where it had been discarded and collapsed down on the ground next to it. She picked it up and the memories of the past few months came back to her, the happiness she had felt there, and then the images of Harry and Ron here along with Ginny and everyone else she knew in this time came to her and she knew, she knew she could not go back. She curled up in a ball on that old floor, her body wrapped around the tine turner, and cried herself to sleep.

When she woke up it was dark outside. Her eyes drifted to the clock on her nightstand and saw that it read 2 am. She laid there for another half hour lost in her thoughts about how happy she had been in the past. Finally, she placed the time turner carefully inside her nightstand, crying as she did so, before she stood up and proceeded to her bathroom. She thought a shower would make her feel better, wash off the memories that kept going through her head. After her shower she felt no better and decided she would be unable to get back to sleep right now, but maybe with a little help she could. All she wanted to do was sleep so she went downstairs to get a butterbeer.

However, the kitchen was snot empty. Remus was sitting at the table with his own glass, his clearly filled with firewhisky. At her entrance he looked up and she could see the pain on his face. She understood as she was feeling the same pain, the pain of heartbreak. Wordlessly, she walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around him, she felt him relax against her. He turned around to face her and simply stared up into her eyes. At her look back at him, he gently placed his hand on her cheek and pulled her face towards his own and into a gentle and passionate kiss. After about a minute they separated and Remus stood up.

"Hermione I," he began to say before he was interrupted.

"I know." At those words she reached up and kissed him again. Together, neither one really leading the other, they walked upstairs and into his room. That night unlike the nights of the past they shared together, they slept together and it was everything both of them had waited to share with each other.


	5. Chapter 5:The End, Part 1

Sorry it took me so long to finish. It's kind of short and condensed, but I wanted to finally get what was in my head out onto paper. I have the story for an alternate ending in my head that hopefully I will get down soon enough. Thanks to everyone!

When Hermione awoke the next morning she was unsure of where she was. Then, like a wave it all came rushing back to her, her return from the past, Remus's rejection, and then…the night they finally shared together. At this memory she smiled and stretched out her body, she felt soreness, but thought that was to be expected, it was what she was expecting to find but did not that concerned her…Remus. She opened her eyes fully and looked around the room seeing no sign the man she loved. She saw her clothes lying alone on the floor where they had been dropped the previous night and moved to put them on. Remembering Ron and Harry were also around the house, she poked her head outside the door to be sure the coast was clear before she ran to her bedroom to shower and change for the day.

1 hour later

"Hermione! How are you feeling this morning?" came Ron's voice from the kitchen as Hermione descended the stairs.

"Much better thanks," she lied, her concern mounting at the obvious lack of Remus's presence in the kitchen. "Good morning Harry, uh where is Remus?"

"He left early this morning, said he had order business to attend to." Hermione knew this was a lie, and continued, "did he say when he would be back?"

Harry, slightly confused by her look of stress responded, "He said he wasn't sure when he would be returning."

"I see," was all Hermione could say, and with that she excused herself to her room leaving two very confused boys in the kitchen. When Hermione returned to her room she found an owl waiting on her bed. She ran to it and pulled the note from its leg.

"_I'm so sorry"_

That was all the note said, it wasn't signed, but it really didn't have to be. She knew what it meant, that he didn't want her, that last night meant nothing to him as it had everything to her. And with that she felt her heartbreak for the second time in 2 days, a feeling which she could not imagine getting better with time, although she knew she would have no choice, the love of her life was gone, and she would learn to live with it for she was strong, she was Harry Potter's best friend. With that she continued to sob quietly but vowed she would let no one see her pain.

* * *

The next two months were like a dream to Hermione. She was hardly there. Although she showed no sign of her inner anguish and continued to live the way she had before her visit to the past. Only one thing changed, she had told Ron that she needed some time to think, she knew that Remus would always be her true love, but she also knew that there was no hope for that life and that she would have to eventually accept the one he had now forced upon her, she just needed time. Hermione tried to think of Remus as little as possible, tried not to remember the happiest times of her life that she had shared with him, but at the same time always unable to completely do so. Every night she would dream of him and wake up depressed, crying, hopeless, but mostly just hurt, unable to understand how someone who said he loved her could leave her like this. One particularly harsh morning after she had finished showering away the night's tears she went downstairs to find they had received an owl from Mrs. Weasely, inviting the trio to dinner. It also mentioned that Remus would be there with his new girlfriend, Tonks.

Hermione was lost, she could not imagine that she meant so little to Remus that he could move on that quickly. Begrudgingly she agreed to go to dinner.

The trio arrived at the Borrow, all quickly ushered into the kitchen where Remus was sitting hand in hand with Tonks. Hermione could not stand the sight in front of her and barely managed to make it to the garden before she collapsed into quiet tears. The people remaining in the kitchen all looked around at one another, confused, for none of them could possibly comprehend the reason for Hermione's bizarre actions, all but one...

"I'm going to go see what is up with Hermione," Remus told the rest of the dinners, already knowing the reason for her despair. He saw her curled up in the far corner of the garden, crying. He went over and sat next to her, putting his hand on her shoulder.

She immediately shrugged away from his touch, "How could you?" was all she could get out between sobs.

"Hermione, my darling Hermione, I did not want any of this to happen. I want you and love you, truly I do and I always will, but sweetheart, it just cannot work. When you grow up you will understand this, you belong with Ron."

"I belong with you, how can you even say this to me after that last night…"

"I'm so sorry about that. I never should have taken advantage of you that way, I was just so…so overwhelmed at the sight of you and feel of your lips after so long. That is the worst mistake I have ever made."

"And the worst mistake I ever made was trusting you." With that, Remus took Hermione's face in his hands and looked into her eyes,

"Do not ever say that. The love we felt, that we still feel, is real. Do not ever forget that for I know I will not."

Hermione was sobbing, "If you loved me…you could not have destroyed me like this…you could not have left me all alone. You are the only one who truly knows me, and you left me." With that, Hermione stormed away into the night.

Harry and Ron had been very worried about Hermione when Remus had told them she was feeling ill and decided to apparate back home. The next morning they knocked on her door and found a Hermione perfectly ready for the day. Albeit confused, Harry and Ron let it go and went downstairs to start breakfast. Hermione had pledged to herself to be strong, that while inside she was dead, on the outside, no one would ever know.

A year went by like this, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all living together and happy, Hermione slowly getting over her heartbreak, until one day an owl came…

"We're pleased to announce the wedding of Nymphadora Tonks to Remus Lupin at 1 o'clock at the home of Arthur and Molly Weasley."

When Hermione read this note she was devastated, knowing this was truly the end for her and Remus, knowing that all-along she should have known.

Hermione attended the wedding, sitting alongside Ron, watching Harry stand next to the man she loved more than anything in the world, waiting for his bride, another woman, to walk down the aisle.

When the music began to play, Remus looked down the aisle to see Hermione, and their eyes connected. He could see the silent tears softly flowing down her cheek, and could feel his own heart breaking at the sadness he was creating in her, and his own sadness at knowing he could never again hold her and call her his own. Remus loved her, in truth far more than Tonks. Hermione knew him on a level she could never understand, knew his past, was there for him, and he couldn't help but wish he were marrying Hermione instead. But he had to remind himself, he brought this on himself, turning her away, but at the same time knowing it was the right thing to do for the young girl.

While Hermione watched grief-stricken from her chair, she felt Ron wrap her hand in his own, seeking her presence with him. She knew this would be her future. She knew she could love Ron, although it would never be the love she felt for Remus. She was made for him, she knew that, as did he, but life and his choices and desire to protect her separated her from him forever.

Hermione wandered inside during the reception to catch her breath after watching the love of her life say "I do" to someone else. She was standing in the corner of the living room trying to hide her tears and the fact that the world was crushing down upon her when she heard a voice behind her, "It should have been us."

Hermione knew this voice. She turned around and saw none other than Remus, her Remus, slammed against a wall, holding himself up with a glass of firewhisky in his hand. "You're drunk," she replied.

"Had to be," was all he could say. After a moment of silence he continued, "After seeing your pain and remembering the times we had together and that…amazing night we shared, how could I get through this any other way?"

Hermione was in disbelief, "How can you be sad? I thought this was what you wanted. You didn't want the young and impressionable girl, instead you got your mature and powerful auror!" She exclaimed angrily.

"Hermione, my darling," he began before she interrupted.

"Don't you dare call me that. You did this. We could have been happy together, but you walked away, you left me, you did this, don't forget that."

"Oh my darling," she cringed at his words, "I never could. And I wish I had been able to keep you with me, but I could not ruin your life in that way, I loved you too much. I loved you enough to let you go, surely you must know it was the hardest thing I've ever done, and I regret it every day of my life, which brings me back to this glass and to saying, it should have been us."

"Yes, my Remus, my love, it should have been." With that statement Hermione walked up to Remus and he enveloped her in his arms. Once again feeling the heaven of holding her, he bent his head down to hers, kissed her forehead…and then their eyes met. Slowly their heads were brought together by a force more powerful than either one, and their lips met in a gentle kiss. They held it for a moment before Hermione broke away, and walked back out into the reception, and to the life she would now lead with Ron.

12 years later

Hermione had married Ron and had children with him, and been happy. She, Ron, Harry, Ginny, Remus, Tonks, as well as everyone else from the order they had grown close to during the war remained extremely close, Hermione and Remus never again showing even the slightest hint of affection to each other at Christmas or birthdays or New Year, other than friendship after that day at his wedding. He watched Ron and Hermione wed with his heart breaking, but never let it show, reminding himself that this is what he wanted for her, and this was his choice.

Standing on platform 9 and ¾ they were dropping their children off to head for Hogwarts. Harry was talking to his youngest about bravery and giving him the traditional father-son peep-talk he never recieved, Ron was making sure their children had all their belongings while she was kissing them goodbye, when she noticed Teddy, the son of Tonks and Lupin, alone on the platform. She looked around for the parents, and was relieved when she saw Tonks approaching. However, that feeling of relief was revoked when she saw Remus leaving the station through the platform entrance. Kissing her children goodbye, and telling her husband to meet her outside, she followed Remus outside to see him sitting on a common muggle bench looking out over the road.

"It should have been us," was all he said, knowing who was approaching him.

"You know you've said that before," she replied sitting down next to him.

"I saw you kissing your children goodbye, with Ron acting like a fool and Tonks complaining about this and that, and all I could think was, it should have been us dropping our own child off."

"Yes, but it isn't, and we'll have to survive," and with that she got up off the bench and returned inside to her husband she had grown to love, leaving the man who would always truly have her heart, no matter how much he hurt her, behind outside.

Remus left directly from the bench, returning home to pack his belongings. He would always be a part of Teddy's life, but he knew now that he had made a true mistake, he should not have tried to know what was best for Hermione, and had been selfish making that decision for her. He should have allowed them to grow old together. He left the house and disappeared into the world, where he would remain a bachelor, never to bother Hermione or love again.


End file.
